Death to the Feeble Masses

tbt

Lamb of God. Oh, Lamb of God. If you’re going to open a conversation about one of the most well-known and well-respected groove/thrash metal groups going, where should one begin? You could fill volumes with the events contained in the band’s history and discography. From the Burn The Priest days and the subsequent reasoning behind the name change all the way through the more recent drama surrounding a certain manslaughter case in the Czech Republic, there are countless events we could define as ‘critical’ to their history. Unfortunately for all you, I don’t really have time to get into any or all of that. But what I do want to focus on is the album that projected LoG to the top of my library for a significant period of time back in the mid-2000’s. And that album would be 2006’s Sacrament. Continue reading →

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In this edition of Throwback Thursday, we look back on an album from 2014: Zgard‘s Contemplation. Zgard is the project of Yaromisl Grozovoy, who handles vocal duties as well as all instruments bar the drums. As their Ukrainian origin denotes, they play black metal in the Slavic tradition, resulting in drawn-out, melancholic compositions that dip into the waters of folk music more than once. In this review, we will look at how well the different aspects of the music are balanced out. Continue reading →

Remember last year (or maybe two years ago?) when I used Market Square Day as a reason to talk about Dio? Well, that time is here again. A few key pieces of background information: 1. I live in Portsmouth, NH — the best small city on the god damn planet. And that’s partly because 2. Dio was born here. Finally, 3. This coming Saturday is Market Square Day. So what better opportunity is there to talk about all of the above than the present? Continue reading →

Regardless of whether you agree on their political stances or not, Ukraine’s Nokturnal Mortum can’t be dismissed for not having a huge impact on black metal, especially the kind influenced by folk music and rooted in symphonic grandeur. Their third demo –– disputably their first full-length –– Lunar Poetry recently turned 20 and deserves to be recognized for its excellence in songwriting and creating one of the strongest wintry atmospheres conjured in a black metal album from the 90s. Continue reading →

In the vein of our love for all things Swedish, today’s Throwback is at another cornerstone of melodic death metal. While it’s not old enough to buy its own beer yet, it could probably at least pass for being legal. In Flames‘ classic sophomore record The Jester Racejust turned 20, and if that makes you feel old, you best hold on to your walker while we blast the solo from “December Flower.” Continue reading →